Shane van Gisbergen was so dominant on road courses last season that many had looked at NASCAR’s first road race of 2026 like it was already settled: SVG in a runaway.

Hold on. Tyler Reddick’s pursuit of racing history may yet have a say in that.

The Corning, Calif. native Reddick earned pole position for today’s race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas as the winner of the Daytona 500 and again last week at Atlanta looks to become the first driver to win the first three races of the season.

Van Gisbergen won five of six road races last season, including the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, and today’s race has been teed up as a fight between New Zealand’s road wizard and his 19-year-old Trackhouse rookie teammate, Connor Zilisch.

But Reddick has history at COTA — he won a triple-overtime crash-fest here in 2023 — and has the confidence of a driver who has no plans to surrender races to anyone for now. His win here in 2023 was his first with Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing.

“It helps the chances certainly,” Reddick said of today’s pole position. “Starting up front is huge.”

But that was earned with speed over one lap. Beating van Gisbergen’s road course mastery over the 95 laps of a full race is something else indeed.

“I just need to get as much of a head start on him as I can and try to stay ahead of him all day,” Reddick said.

Van Gisbergen will start from 13th and he’s chasing his own history. A sixth consecutive road course win would tie Jeff Gordon’s record set from 1997 to 2000 and leave him two shy of Gordon’s career record of nine.

GOLF

Shane Lowry has yet another chance to win at PGA National after shooting an 8-under 63, moving to 13 under and finishing with a share of the lead following three rounds of the Cognizant Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

He’s tied with Austin Smotherman, who battled his way to a 69.

Lowry was second in 2022 when the event was still called the Honda Classic, losing the lead in a most bizarre fashion at the end — getting caught in a deluge that wreaked havoc on the final hole. Sepp Straka wound up winning by one shot, and Lowry wound up getting soaked.

“You get good breaks and bad breaks, and that was a bad break,” Lowry said. “Yeah, we’ll see. Hopefully none of that (today).”

He tied for fifth at PGA National a year later, had the solo lead going into the final round of the Cognizant before finishing tied for fourth in 2024, then tied for 11th last year.

Nico Echavarria (66) and Taylor Moore (67) were a shot back at 12 under.

Australians Hannah Green and Minjee Lee moved to the top of the leaderboard to lead by one stroke after three rounds of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.

Green, the 2019 Women’s PGA Championship winner and who won the Singapore tournament in 2024, shot a 4-under 68 and three-time major winner Lee 69 to post three-round totals of 11-under 205.

American Angel Yin (68) and Haeran Ryu (70) of South Korea were tied for third in the LPGA tournament.

NWSL

Goals by Bay FC forwards Racheal Kundananji and Tess Boade and midfielder Jamie Shepherd led to a 3-0 home victory over amateur side United City FC in Bay’s final closed-door friendly.

Bay FC will open its third NWSL season, and first under new coach Emma Coates, at PayPal Park against expansion team Denver Summit FC on March 14.

MLS

Julian Hall scored to lead the New York Red Bulls in a 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution in New Jersey as the 17-year-old became the youngest player in MLS history to score in each of his club’s first two games of the season. Hall headed in a shot for his MLS-leading third goal of the year.

Jonathan Bamba scored in the first half, and the Chicago Fire scored twice in stoppage time to secure a 3-0 win over CF Montréal in their home opener.

Kelvin Yeboah’s rebound goal and Drake Callender’s four saves gave Minnesota United FC a 1-0 home victory over Cincinnati FC.

Hamzat Ojediran and Lucas Herrington each scored their first career MLS goal to help the Colorado Rapids beat the Portland Timbers 2-0.

German midfielder Marco Reus has extended his contract with the LA Galaxy through December 2027.

The 36-year-old Reus joined LA in August 2024 after 12 successful years with Borussia Dortmund.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Colorado coach Deion Sanders is putting the finishing touches on his coaching-staff makeover with spring practice starting Monday. He will be without one of his good friends, too.

Hall of Fame defensive lineman Warren Sapp announced his resignation to “pursue other opportunities,” the school said in a statement. “CU athletics thanks Warren for his contributions to our football program over the last two seasons and for his commitment to our student-athletes.”

Sapp, a former Oakland Raider, was the defensive pass rush coordinator for the Buffaloes last season.

Sanders promoted Chris Marve to defensive coordinator following the departure of Robert Livingston, who took a job with the Denver Broncos as their passing game coordinator and secondary coach.